Ivan Smetski

Ivan Smetski is a star athlete and a scholar who is following in his father's footsteps to become a professor. Ivan is particularly interested in Russian history because he grew up there, as well as the languages that his father also teaches. As part of Ivan's dissertation, Ivan travels to Kiev, where he grew up, to study the fairy tales that have survived the generations. Ivan is ready to return home to New York, write his dissertation and marry his girlfriend, Ruth, but he decides to take a side trip to visit Cousin Marek, a family member who took him and his parents in while they were awaiting their visas to travel out of Ukraine.

Ivan has recurring dreams about a chasm he found once in the woods near Cousin Marek's farm that held some kind of creature and the sleeping form of a beautiful girl. Ivan...